About Watermark

We work for your business

Founded in 1859, Watermark is an Australian intellectual property firm renowned for delivering exceptional client care to match its peerless IP knowledge.

With offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and associates around the world, Watermark delivers accessible, timely and proactive services. We work with your brand, your strategy and your perspective in mind. With an emphasis on transparency, we make sure you receive the greatest value for your time, so you can get on with the business of making the most out of your ideas.

With distinguished qualifications across a range of markets, including pharmaceuticals, construction, manufacturing, education, life sciences, consumer goods, professional services, and energy & cleantech, we know your industry. Our longstanding clients range from multinational corporations to SMEs and start-ups, with a healthy balance of prestigious brands and promising businesses.

Whether you need a patent, trade mark, IP legal advice or ongoing assessment of your competitors, we make it simple to navigate complex terrain so you can ensure the successful growth of your business.

Let’s talk about how Watermark can help you.

our history

Over 155 years strong.

As the oldest patent and trade mark firm still practising in Australia, we’re proud to have a rich history of helping smart people protect and defend their intellectual property.

Our founder Edward Waters made the arduous journey from London to Australia at the age of 18 to make his mark in the fledgling colonial empire. In 1859, he and Edwin Hart founded Hart and Waters and filed their first patent. Soon after the pair went their separate ways and Edward Waters never looked back.

As commerce and industry boomed in Australia, Waters prospered and when his son joined the firm in 1896, an advertisement for Edward Waters and Son claimed that they were responsible for half the patent business in “this and the adjoining colonies”.

Waters was also the initiating force behind the Australian Institute of Patent Agents and was its inaugural president. His son inherited his drive and vision and continued to promote the patent profession in Australia and to grow the business after his father’s death in 1917.

A true pioneer of the industry, Edward Waters is widely acknowledged as the father of the profession in Australia. Today, our firm, now known as Watermark, embraces the same pioneering spirit as Edward Waters.

We continue to innovate so that our attorneys, lawyers, advisors and staff are always looking for better ways to create value for our clients in an ever expanding and evolving global market.